Pitch control mechanism for pivoted blade aircraft sustaining rotors



Feb. 6, 1951 H s. CAMPBELL 2,540,473

PITCH CONTROL MECHANISM FOR PIVOTED BLADE AIRCRAFT SUSTAINING ROTORS Original Filed Aug. 7, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 6, 1951 H. s. CAMPBELL 2,540,473

PITCH CONTROL MECHANISM FOR PIVOTED BLADE AIRCRAFT SUSTAINING ROTORS Original Filed Aug. 7, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q/ v M WTT RNEY5 Patented Feb. 6, 1951 PITCH CONTROL MECHANISM FOR PIVOTED BLADE AIRCRAFT SUSTAINING ROTORS Harris S. Campbell, Bryn Athyn, Pa., assignor to Autogiro Company of America, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation-of Delaware Original application August 7, 1942, Serial No.

453,932. Divided and this application Februany 11, 1947, Serial No. 727,758

"Claims.

This invention relates to rotative winged aircraft, and especially to aircraft of this type in v which the rotor blade or blades are mounted for pitch change movement.

The present application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 453,932, filed August 7, 1942, now Patent 2,428,200 dated September 30, 1947.

Blade pitch change in sustaining rotors has been employed for control purposes, for example, in the manner described and claimed in copending application of Juan de la Cierva, Serial No. 698,372, filed November 16, 1933, and issued July 31, 1945, as Patent No. 2,380,582 When employi s Ditch change for cont ol purp es, for instance for longitudinal and lateral attitude control, the pitch of each blade is caused to vary periodically with rotation of the rotor.

With various prior pitch control systems for the above purpose, aerodynamic and dynamic loads developed in the blades have been transmitted to the control system, For instance, during rotation of the rotor, especially when -.the control is adjusted appreciably from the neutral setting, inertia loads are set up as a result of the rapid periodic oscillations ,of the blades in the pitch change .sense. Forces from this origin have heretofore been transmitted to the control system. Another source of undesired tendency to affect the control system is the rapid change which the blades experience in aerodynamic pitching moment during translational flight, even with the control system adjusted to the neutral position.

Loads from various originssuch as the foregoing may cause deflections in the control linkage and even actual movement of the complete control system, with the result that undesired blade pitch changes occur. Under some forces and conditions, these undesired pitch change movements tend to build up resonantly, thereby becoming excessive, and causing objectionable vibrations even of the whole aircraft.

According to the present invention a pitch control system is provided, which :system completely or at least partially restrains the blades as against undesired movements while at the same timepermittinfree operation of the control system by the pilot.

With the above in mind, the invention contemplates employment of a wholly or partially tirreversible device in the control linkage, which ,device is located, preferably both functionally and structurally, close to the blade, In the preferred construction, the irreversible device -,comprises complementary worm and worm wheel elements, the latter of which is mounted directly on the blade, so that the undesired forces are arrested at their origin and prevented from entering the control system.

In considering another aspect of the invention it should be kept in mind that sustaining rotors ordinarily incorporate one or more pivots for the blades by means of which the blades are connected with the hub. Usually each rotor blade is connected with the hub at least by a flapping pivot, and the connection may also include a drag pivot, the two pivots providing, respectively, for swinging movement of the blade in a direction generally transverse of the mean rotative path of travel and in a direction within the said path of travel.

In such a pivoted rotor, pitch control connections must necessarily accommodate the swinging movements of the blades and the means provided for such accommodation necessarily introduces additional links, joints, levers, or the like, in all of which additional opportunity is afiorded for aerodynamic and dynamic loads to set up undesired vibrations and the like.

With the foregoing in mind, the invention further contemplates special arrangement of the irreversible pitch control device with relation to the blade pivots, and also special arrangement of the actuating connections, whereby not only to accommodate flapping or lag-lead movements of the blades but also to arrest undesired blade movements in the pitch change sense at a point in the control system beyond the mechanism for accommodating the swinging movements of the blades.

Still another factor which should be kept in mind is that swinging movements of the blades, especially in the flapping sense, should not extensively alter the blade pitch, and in some cases even minor changes of blade pitch as a result of flapping movements are undesirable. With this in mind the invention provides a pitch control system in which no pitch change will accompany flappin movement of the blades.

The manner in which the foregoing objects and advantages are accomplished and also others which will occur to those skilled inthe art will appear more fully from the following description, referring to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a sideclevational view a rangement constructed according to the invention, with a portion of the root end mounting for one of the blades shown in vertical section;

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the arrangement shown in Figure 1; and

Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views taken respectively as indicated by the lines 33 and 4--4 on Figure 1.

Before considering the structure shown in the drawings, it is here mentioned that the invention is applicable to a helicopter in which the rotor is power driven in normal operation, and also to a rotative winged aircraft where the rotor is adapted for auto-rotational actuation in normal operation, in which latter event the rotor may be driven for starting purposes on the ground prior to take-off. As is known and as is disclosed in the copending application above referred to, a rotor drive mechanism for purposes such as those just referred to preferably incorporates a manually operable clutch and also a free wheeling clutch, although these and other parts of the rotor drive transmission are not illustrated herein, since they form no part of the present invention per se.

Any suitable number of blades may be incorporated in the rotor. In the embodiment illustrated the rotor is three bladed, the direction of rotation of the rotor being indicated by the arrow R. in Figure 2. Each blade (the root end of one such blade being indicated at 5) is provided with an external sleeve or bearing part 6 mounted on a spindle 1 by means of bearings 88, this mounting providing an axis for blade movement substantially coincident with the longitudinal axis of the blade, and therefore constituting a pitch change mounting for the blade. Spindle 1 projects from a link part, the inner end of which constitutes a horizontally apertured lug 9 adapted to cooperate with a flapping pivot Hi, the ends of which are received in pairs of lugs ll-il which project from the hub member i2. Pivot ID thus provides freedom for swinging movement of the blade in a direction generally transverse the mean rotative path of travel, this swinging move ment being desirable for the purpose of compensating for differential lift effects during translational flights as between the advancing and retreating sides of the rotor.

Adjacent its inner end the sleeve 6 of the pitch change mounting is provided with a worm wheel segment is with which the teeth M of a segmental worm iii are adapted to mesh. The worm is mounted at it on link i9 by a pair of brackets IT. The worm actuating arm i8 extends radially inwardly to a point in alignment with the axis of the flapping pivot it. A push-pull rod I9 extending through the hollowed flapping pivot I9 substantially axially thereof carries a fitting 20 at one end thereof which is coupled with arm l8 by means of a ball joint, the other end of rod it being similarly coupled with one arm 2i of the bell crank pivoted at 22, the other arm 23 of the bell crank being linked with the rotative swash ring 2 as by a connection 25, suitably universally joined at its ends to accommodate various of the control motions.

From the above it will be seen that axial movement of rod iii along the axis line of the flapping pivot will actuate the worm and effect pitch change movement of the blade. As the blade moves on its flapping pivot, however, the control linkage is entirely unaifeoted, so that the pitch of the blade is not altered with upward and downward swinging movements of the blade. To accommodate the flapping movement a rotative connection is provided between rod. i9 and fitting 20. This connection may take the form of a screw threaded joint between these two parts.

The mechanism for tilting and/or for raising and lowering the rotative swash ring 24' is fully disclosed in my copending application above referred to of which the present application is a division, and since this mechanism forms no part of the present invention per se the details thereof need not be illustrated herein. It may be mentioned, however, that the swash ring 24 is carried by a bearing on a nonrotative ring 2t which is tiltable with reference to the internal member 21, the latter also being vertically movable on the cylindrical part 28 which may serve as an external hub supporting shell enclosing bearings by means of which the hub spindle itself is journalled. Control linkages are adapted to be connected with the nonrotative swash ring 2%, for instance through the depending skirt or apron 29. A scissors link such as shown at 3El3l in Figure 1 serves to ensure rotation of the swash ring with the rotor hub itself and thus with the blades. Link 30 of this linkage is coupled with the hub and link 3! with ring 2d, the two links being interconnected as clearly appears in Figure 1. The joints between the two links (33 and 3i) and between link 39 and the hub are desirably simple pivot joints whereby the rotative motion of the hub is utilized to ensure rotation of ring 24 therewith. The joint between link 3i and the ring 25'; is desirably of the universal type whereby to accommodate various angular tilting movements of the ring.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the control connections incorporate an irreversible device at the blade root itself whereby to arrest any undesired forces originating in the blade and prevent transmission thereof to the control system.

With further reference to the operation of the mechanism described, as hereinbefore mentioned, various forces and vibrations originating in the blades have a tendency to deflect or move parts of the control system. Even if these forces are not of magnitude sufficient to actually cause the entire control system to move, they are objectionable in the control system since they tend to deflect linkages or the like and cause vibrations at points of lost motion. The control system of the present invention incorporates a partially or wholly irreversible device (i. e., the worm and worm wheel elements M and I3), which is located at the blade itself and thus at the very origin of the forces which have heretofore introduced troublesome effects in the control system.

It is especially to be noted that the foregoing has been accomplished notwithstanding the fact that the blades are pivotally connected with the hub, as by means of flapping pivots such as shown at H). Moreover, the objects and advantages of the invention above discussed have been accomplished notwithstanding the location of the pitch change mounting outboard of the flapping pivot, this relationship being important for a number of reasons including the fact that pitch change movement of the blade does not alter the angularity of the flapping pivot axis.

It is to be understood that the worm device (or any functionally similar mechanism) may be either totally or only partially irreversible. For most purposes I prefer at least a high degree of or total irreversibility, though it is contemplated that in some instances it may be desirable to reduce the degree of irreversibility so as to permit the transmission of a fraction of the loads to the control system, thereby enabling the pilot to sense or feel the conditions under which the rotor is operating.

Iclaim:

1. In an aircraft having a sustaining rotor incorporating a. hub and a blade connected therewith by means of a flapping pivot, a pitch change mounting for the blade operatively interposed between the flapping pivot and the blade, and pitch control mechanism comprising worm and worm wheel elements both mounted for movement with the blade in a flapping sense and the latter element also being mounted on the blade to move therewith in the pitch change sense, and controllable means for actuating the worm element including a control connection extended therefrom to the body of the aircraft and comprising a control member mounted for movement in a direction generally paralleling the axis of the flapping pivot.

pitch change and flapping senses, the worm be-' ing mounted to move with the blade in the flapping sense and being located with its axis perpendicular to the axis of the flapping pivot, a lever arm for actuating the worm, said arm projecting from the worm to a point substantially in alignment with the axis of the flapping pivot, and a control connection for operating said lever arm movable substantially axially of said flapping pivot.

4. A construction in accordance with claim 3 in which the flapping pivot is hollow and in which said control connection comprises a push pull member extended through the flapping pivot.

5. A construction in accordance with claim 3 in which the flapping pivot is hollow and in which said control connection comprises a push pull member extended through the flapping pivot, together with a swash member and additional control means cooperating with said push pull member and extended downwardly therefrom for cooperation with said swash member.

HARRIS S. CAMPBELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following'references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,030,578 'Flettner Feb. 11, 1936 2,162,794 Asboth June 20, 1939 2,203,012 Campbell June 4, 1940 2,216,162 Cierva Oct. 1, 1940 2,380,582 Cierva July 31, 1945 2,421,364 Cierva May 27, 1947 2,428,200 Campbell Sept. 30, 1947 

